This time last year, Chintan Joshi was co-head of the European banks research at Nomura and one of the top-ranked analysts out there. Now, two jobs later, he’s looking for new opportunities again.

Joshi moved to Mediobanca in an equity research role on UK and European banks in September last year after Nomura pulled the plug on its London equities team and the bank’s well-regarded analysts flooded the market.

However, Joshi left his role earlier this month and is currently looking for a new position.

Joshi headed up Nomura’s European bank research team along with Jon Peace, who joined Credit Suisse in July as a managing director in its European banks research team. Credit Suisse also hired two other banking analysts from Nomura at the time.

Joshi is a highly-regarded bank analyst who often features on rankings where his recommendations have proven correct.

Rankings mean little in the current climate for research analysts, however. As the FT points out, analysts are facing shaky employment prospects whether they’re winning awards or not.

Looming MiFID II regulation, due to come into force next year, will force asset managers to pay directly for research, rather than bundling in with other trading costs or pushing business to banking analysts they prefer, or who can offer corporate access to clients.

Investment banks have halved the number of analysts in their ranks since the financial crisis, and even in the past year have let around 300 people go. The total number of equity researchers in banks now stands at 6,282, according to figures from research firm Coalition.

A recent poll of asset managers by consultants Quinlan & Associates, suggests there’s unlikely to be a let up any time soon. Asset managers intend to slash their research budgets by 30%, the research suggested, predominantly in Europe, but all geographies will be affected.